National Forensic Doctor

Zhan Kan assisted Jiang Yuan, carefully extracting the body from pit number one.

The young forensic doctor with them made a phone call, then whispered, "Captain Jiang, Zeng and the others will also be arriving soon, probably in another half an hour."

"Good, once they get here, start with number six." Jiang Yuan couldn’t unearth all six bodies alone; even if he had the stamina, maintaining focus and managing time would be extremely difficult. And with cases like this one, it was better not to stay overnight if possible. This wasn’t just because it was hard to set up defenses in the forest, but also because morning and evening were times when rain was likely to fall, creating a swift change in temperature that could be dangerous for exposed corpses.

Tao Lu was leading Huang Qiangmin and Qi Changye, with two half-alive faces in tow, quietly exchanging words.

Jiang Yuan’s attention was focused on the pit of bodies.

Jiang Yuan, Zhan Kan, and the others continued the bone-collecting work that the police officers hadn’t finished. Meanwhile, the officers carried on with their previous tasks of collecting insects and soil samples.

One by one, the bones were placed into the prepared boxes.

Zhan Kan picked up a segment of bone, looked it over carefully, and then asked Jiang Yuan in a low voice, "The bones seem very clean; does that mean the time of death could exceed four or five years?"

There wasn’t a shred of connective tissue on the stark white bones. The "connective tissue" referred to the sinew that’s usually the last muscular tissue to disconnect from the bones during the later stages of a corpse’s decomposition.

Jiang Yuan had already examined the bones before and now looked around, saying, "You can be bolder in your estimate."